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In music, the 'Farben' chord is a chord, in ascending order C–G♯–B–E–A, named after its use in Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op.16, No. 3, "Farben" (German: "colors") by Arnold Schoenberg. Its unordered pitch-class content in normal form is 01348 (e.g., C–C♯–E♭–E–G♯), its Forte number is 5-z17, in the taxonomy of Allen Forte.

The identity of the Farben chord, however, depends on ordering of its pitches in a particular voicing. It is enharmonically equivalent to a minor/major ninth chord : A–C–E–G♯–B.

According to Forte, Schoenberg developed the pentad canonically in "Farben" (also titled "Summer Morning by a Lake" or "Chord-Colors"), while Alban Berg used the chord as one of three on which Act I scene 2 of Wozzeck is based. The pentad is "almost octatonic" and has been called "a 'classic' atonal set type". The chord relates the movement to the other movements of the piece, with it appearing as the first chord of movement No.2 and in movement No.4, "The figure in the first bar is actually a horizontal version of the chord from the preceding movement."

References

1. Elizabeth L. Keathley, "Schoenberg's Op. 16/IV: An Examination of the Sketches", Theory and Practice Vol. 17 (1992): pp.67–84, citation on p.80.
2. Michiel Schuijer, Analyzing Atonal Music: Pitch-Class Set Theory and Its Contexts (Eastman Studies in Music 60), Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2008, p.109. ISBN 978-1-58046-270-9.
3. ^ Allen Forte, "The Golden Thread: Octatonic Music in Webern's Early Songs, with Certain Historical Reflections", in Webern Studies, edited by Kathryn Bailey, pp.74–110. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p.98n21. ISBN 0-521-47526-0.
4. Allen Forte, The Structure of Atonal Music, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973, pp.55,84,112,166&180.
5. ^ Allen Forte, "The Golden Thread: Octatonic Music in Webern's Early Songs, with Certain Historical Reflections", in Webern Studies, edited by Kathryn Bailey, pp.74–110. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p.98. ISBN 0-521-47526-0.
6. Elizabeth L. Keathley, "Schoenberg's Op. 16/IV: An Examination of the Sketches", Theory and Practice Vol. 17 (1992): pp.67–84, citations on pp.77&80.

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